1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an agricultural machine comprising at least one energy producing device, which drives at least one working unit of the agricultural machine and at least one energy source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Agricultural machines are subjected to considerable loads during harvesting. All working units, such as cutter bars, chopper drums or conditioning rollers, of a self-powered forager harvester are greatly loaded by the crop to be harvested. The rotation speeds of the working units must be kept constant in order to guarantee unobjectionable processing of the crop. Especially the motor speed of agricultural machines strongly fluctuates because of non-uniform crop conditions. Thus the engine power requirements fluctuate depending on the amount of the crop fed to the working units. This has the result that the engine is very greatly loaded with very thick crop conditions and the operator must reduce the engine speed, in order to avoid overloading the engine. It is problematic that frequently this action is not performed quickly enough, so that the working units are clogged or the crop quality is poor. On the other hand, the operator must act correctly even with less dense crops, and for example increase the speed so that the engine load is optimum.
EP1 065 920 B1 discloses a supply device or unit with at least one rotatably driven feeder in a self-powered forager harvester and a mechanical gear mechanism, which is designed as a planetary gear device and has a planet carrier, a sum wheel and a ring gear as its parts. Each part of the planetary gear device is in working connection with a mechanical drive and the feeder.
The mechanical drive should be improved by the arrangement of the different parts. A higher efficiency should be attained because of the mechanical gear mechanism and the rotational speed change of the engine because of the power transmission. Thus the main power should be applied through the mechanical gear mechanism, so that the engine only needs to provide a minimal power to the gear mechanism and thus can be kept comparatively small.
However the subject matter of the invention disclosed in EP 1 065 920 B1 only includes improvements for the mechanical drive. The energy consumption itself remains high and unchanged and is not adjusted to the actual requirements of the agricultural machine at any point. Improved energy consumption is not achieved by the arrangements of the parts. The energy is produced by the engine and is conducted into the mechanical gear mechanism, from which it is supplied to the working units of the agricultural machine and immediately converted or transformed. The energetic support is not provided by additional power reserves.